Loyalties and favorites aside, we need to pick our best players for a period of a year, and back them in all formats:
1.Mawoyo, 2.Matsi, 3.Hami, 4.Vusi, 5.Taylor(wk) 6.Williams, 7.Elton, 8.Cremer, 9.Shingi, 10.Jarvis, 11.Mpofu
Outside these few, I can only see the following as being relevant backup:
Batsmen: Vermeulen, Craig
Seamers: Rainsford, Vitori
Spinners: Utseya, Mushangwe
Wicket-keeper: Regis
My reserves have got capable senior and junior options.
I accept that Mawoyo will be a permanent fixture as an opening batsmen, and he's shown ability in the short forms. The reality is Duffin will never be an ODI/T20 option. We need a batsmen with the qualities those two have, and it can be argued that Mark has them, and is a superior batsmen to both. Why ignore him?
I also accept that a lot of faith has been vested in Jarvis, but the bottom line is we're not taking wickets so we need bowlers who do take wickets against good batsmen in all conditions, and Shingi is one of them. If he's not going to replace Jarvis, then he must be in the XI for a containing spinner. Mpofu bailed us our in the Bangladesh Test and in many other games. He always takes wickets and for the most part keeps things quiet.
Forget Ray, and accept that he must be let go. Age is a factor, and even Ponting learnt the hard way. Price is struggling to take wickets in the Logan Cup. All he would do is provide an outlet for the batsmen to relax from the occasional brilliance of the other members of our attack bowling from the other end. Bhaji a spin bowler 10 times better than Price is struggling in Indian wickets. He's much younger - 4 years - and India are persisting with younger players in the hope that they'll develop into a Kumble/Bhaji. Give Price a token appearance, like the Bhaji 100th Test, and that's it!
As much as you guys may not like Matsi, put your criticism and negative inclination aside, and accept that we only have a handful of guys with the same ability to dominate occasionally, and he's one of them! We need capable batsmen against the new ball, and few in that XI can claim to be better than him up front. Matsi hasn't had a decent run, and he's one of the few people we can rely on to bat fearlessly. Chamu showed proof of the gulf that exists between Matsi and the other options that we can get from our domestic structures. Maruma, Mutumbami, Kasuza, Chamu, Chatara, etc, will make excellent options to develop in our A teams. Domestic rankings don't say everything. Mike Hussey is struggling, while Ponting is thriving.
We've got a good Domestic cricket structure, but we've seen how the likes of Mutizwa & Waller were shown up. Half century or not, Mark Vermeulen & Matsi would have done justice to that easy period Malcolm had, and it was painful to watch that.
I don't fancy Taylor as a keeper, but it's pointless to go with someone else like Regis/Coventry, and sacrifice a Williams/Matsi/Mawoyo for Chakabva!
You all know Craig & Cremer remain players I value as far as ZIm's future is concerned. Cremer can have a good run. He hasn't built on the foundation he had, like all our players, but now we know all hope is not lost going forward, because Mushangwe has been tried and for the second time now and shown good promise for the future.
Craig has potential, he has delivered on it before, and remains capable of doing so in future. However, he's not a top order bat, doesn't have the allround qualities of Elton, and in no way is he in the same class as Williams. Reserve is where he belongs, but good enough for the LOI squad.
I don't care what anybody says, Elton is only 27 soon - 28avg batsman, and 35 avg bowler. He's a must in every format(test included), and should be the first name on the sheet. How a why you fail to see that is beyond me!
The only way Zim will ever do well is if it selects it's best batsmen. Those 6, plus Vermeulen are the best we have at performing their roles.
The situation might have been very different if Vusi had appealed. Hami & Taylor would probably have had a better platform from which to launch. We need to adjust the personnel and strategy a little bit.
utseya 18 off 6 7balls this isnt a test match we need more aggression
